Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.6.1

Caleb backed up so there was plenty of space around him, and turned on his own lightsaber. "You can't just show us that and not use them. Come on," he invited her, and she walked over, not bothering to consult anyone about if she ought to or not.

"Start with your proper strokes," she instructed Caleb, pulling out one lightsaber. "Let's just begin with the basic sequences. One, two..." and they went, her white blade clashing with his blue one. Her style was smooth and controlled, seeming quite effortless from an observer's point of view. The Jedi, except for Anakin, marveled at her polished form. Despite having avoided the Order, her dueling skills had not diminished. Anakin was just proud.

Once the two of them finished with regular strokes, he spun the lightsaber into reverse grip without having to be told. He knew the drill. He had done this with Ahsoka a hundred times before, back when she mentored him as a Padawan. She was holding herself differently, though. Her back was much straighter than she normally fought with, and she minimized her movement, rather than utilizing it like Form IV usually called for. Her hand was even behind her back, a choice she had seen Tyrannus do when he had the upper hand. 

When she realized it, she didn't understand at first why she was doing it. I don't want to become him, she argued mentally, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized the advantage it would have given her in a real fight. I'm hiding it from my opponent. I could draw another weapon with it, or use the Force, but my future intentions are concealed until it is too late.

Besides, she didn't want to follow in Anakin's footsteps and get a hand cut off.

After finishing the second sequence, she stepped back to the usual sparring distance, and reset her feet. Now, she crouched and used her left hand for balance, preparing to duel Caleb. He drew his lightsaber in front of him, grinning slightly. "Just like old times, huh?"

"Don't assume that," she warned him. "You don't know what I've learned in the past year, and nor I you. Progress is not always made in the same direction over the course of time."

He nodded, taking the warning as best as he could, but Depa and Obi-Wan were slightly baffled at her philosophy. "Where did she learn that?" Obi-Wan wondered, and Anakin shuffled his feet since he had a pretty good idea where, and it wasn't him.

Not that he knew it, but he was wrong. Ahsoka had actually learned that particular line of wisdom from Vicki, the leader of a gang she was friends with. Every once in a while, she offered to train with Ahsoka (just hand to hand combat) and was actually a very deep thinker, once Ahsoka got closer to her.

Caleb moved first, striking for the feet first. Ahsoka sidestepped the blue blade as it hummed past her feet, spinning and lifting her own to his neck just barely before he could deflect it. She held it for a moment, to show him her movement for next time. Then she lowered it and switched to formal grip, stepping back again. He tried jabbing at her side, but she twisted the blade away and kicked his legs out from underneath his feet. Again, the tip of her white lightsaber was now pointed at his neck. 

"I think I get what you mean," he confessed as she helped him up, lowering his center of gravity. "You're pulling a few moves I've never seen before."

"In the Lower Levels, I've had to fight as I've never had to before," she explained. "I took what I learned and combined it with my saber training, and what I learned was this: At the end of a fight, if you lose, you die. You win by surviving. War isn't always like that. You can lose a battle and still survive, but individuals don't have that luxury." She looked at him pointedly, the way Anakin used to look at her when he was lecturing. "Don't take that for granted."

Caleb nodded, thinking. "So how do I counter people like you?"

She thought for a moment, then decided on an answer: "Exposure. Explore the possibilities of how someone could fight, even if they don't choose to fight that way. Look at what options they do have, and work to eliminate those options in your favor. Leave them with the worst possible case scenario."